Spoleto Festival balances budget with money to spare

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA - The Spoleto Festival USA closed the books on this year with a small surplus and will operate with a slightly smaller budget next year. <br> <br> ``This was a very, very upbeat meeting, and we are especially happy we have balanced our budget for the seventh year in a row,&#39;&#39; Spoleto General Director Nigel Redden said at a board meeting Friday in New York. <br> <br> The 2002 festival ended $6,643 in the black. Next year, the festival will operate with a $6.6 million budget, $100,000 less than budgeted for this year, because of economic uncertainty, said Marie Lawson, the festival&#39;s director of marketing and public relations. <br> <br> Lawson said the festival is nearing the completion of its $25 million capital campaign, which was launched nearly 18 months ago. <br> <br> She said the festival needs to raise $375,000 by Dec. 1 to meet the Kresge Challenge Grant, a bricks-and-mortar grant earmarked for the completion of the restoration and renovation of Spoleto&#39;s downtown Charleston headquarters. <br> <br> Seven new board members also were announced Friday. <br> <br> They are Amy Blumenthal of Charlotte, Leonard Coleman of New Jersey, Mary Scott Guest of Charleston, Gregory Head of Atlanta, Jack Mayberry of New York, Andy Signorile of New York and Catherine Smith of the Isle of Palms. <br> <br> The 2003 Spoleto Festival USA runs May 23-June 8.